South Carolina Runs Into Late Roadblock At Florida

GAINESVILLE - Youthful Florida delivered a predictably disturbing message to seasoned South Carolina Wednesday night: It`s tough to win on the road in the Southeastern Conference.

New SEC member USC, playing its first away conference game, seemingly had the Gators set up for the road kill. But UF, led by an inspired performance by junior forward Stacey Poole, rallied to score the final six points and pull out a 53-52 victory before 7,074 at the O`Connell Center.

Poole`s short turnaround jumper from the corner with 19 seconds remaining was the winner. The Gamecocks had a final chance at victory, but guard Jo Jo English`s jumper from just inside the top of the circle rimmed out and was rebounded by UF forward Craig Brown with one second remaining.

The victory lifts UF to 8-3 overall and 1-0 in the SEC. South Carolina, expected to contend for the SEC`s Eastern Division title with four senior starters, falls to 8-3 and 0-2. The Gamecocks lost their first SEC game to Kentucky 80-63 Saturday.

``We had the game in pretty good shape late, but we just couldn`t get any shots to go down,`` said South Carolina coach Steve Newton. ``It`s tough for an expansion team to get that first `W` in the conference.``

It was a sweet victory for the Gators, who have been picked to finish last in the Eastern Division.

The Gators trailed 50-45 with 6:01 remaining and had struggled throughout the second half to score against South Carolina, which leads the nation in field goal percentage defense (35.4 percent).

The turning point for UF came during a timeout with 4:06 remaining. Unhappy with Poole`s lack of aggressivness offensively, coach Lon Kruger sharply criticized him during the timeout.

Poole responded by hitting a short jumper with 3:44 to cut the deficit to 50-47. After USC`s Troy McKoy and UF`s Brown matched baskets, Poole scored from inside again with 2:17 remaining to draw UF within 52-51.

After McKoy missed a three-point attempt with 51 seconds remaining, UF went to Poole again. And again, Poole emphatically delivered, spinning away from one defender, then scoring the winning shot over 6-foot-8 forward Joe Rhett.

``During the timeout, coach just kept saying, `Go strong, go strong to the hoop,``` said Poole, who finished with a team-high 19 points. ``I`ve gotten into a bad habit of shooting off-balance, and he`s been trying to get me out of it in practice.

``After the timeout, I was determined to go straight up and strong. The last three shots, I went up strong and finished them.``

The Gators, who led 29-25 at the half, were outscored 6-0 to open the second half and seemed out of sync until the final minutes.

A short jumper by 7-foot center Jeff Roulston gave the Gamecocks a 50-45 lead with 6:01 remaining.